Summary Report 2023
University of Warwick Chess Alumni Association
Established 2021.
Introduction
During the Covid lockdown, a founding group of Warwick alumni - captained by Jack Huffer, played in the West Midlands Online League.
Following the pandemic, in the Autumn of 2021, this group, including ten former Presidents of Warwick Chess convened, to set up the Alumni Association –searchable on the ECF Club Finder!
This has since, gone from strength to strength.
The goal of the Warwick Chess Alumni, was to make it easier for graduated members (and friends) of the Society to stay connected, play chess, and enrich the wider community.
MEMBERSHIP TOURNAMENTS
What we do?
COMPETITIVE CHESS REUNIONS
Warwick Chess Alumni
SOCIAL MEDIA
ONLINE CHESS
SPORTS TEAMS COMMITTEE
The Association was founded as a ‘hybrid’ chess club, with both online and in-person events for Warwick University alumni.
The club maintains its membership through its quarterly Newsletter, Shades of Blue, with active members part of the Promoted Pawns Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/group s/promotedpawns
As of, July 2023, there are 109 active members, the majority having graduated from Warwick across the past ten years.
Membership
Competitive Chess
The Association fields three Online Teams, that competes monthly in the World Chess League. Twenty-five Alumni, from over six cohorts, plays across three teams.
2022-23 Season Results.
A Team: 22nd .
OG Team: 33rd Young Oldies: 48th
Competitive
Chess
Competitive
Chess Sec.: Jack Huffer
Alumni 2200+ A Team
The team draws from graduated members of the University Society’s 2200 Club – a group for members over 2200 ELO (FIDE, ECF, Online).
Captain: Holden Davis
Alumni OG Team (Pre-2018)
The team draws from the original team, led by Jack in the pandemic that played in the West Midlands, and Coventry Online Leagues.
Captain: Jack Huffer
Alumni Young Oldies (Pre-2022)
This team draws mostly from the recent graduated cohorts of 2021 and 2022. Vincenz, who graduated in 2022, captains it from Germany.
Captain: Vincenz Bill
Tournaments (OTB)
Across 2022-23, the Alumni organised several trips to different over-the-board Tournaments up and down the country.
It goes without saying that the Alumni support in numbers at the University Society’s Warwick Rapidplay, a significant annual event in the Midlands dating back to 2018. Alumni, including Chun Chiu, and Jorel Ali, have also return to help arbit the event.
The Alumni have organised trips to the Bristol Rapidplay/Blitz, and to Chess Fest on Traflagar Square – where we played in an informal Durham Vs Warwick Alumni match.
Congratulations to Chun, and Jorel, for completing their four FA norms in 2023, now awaiting their titles from FIDE.
Socials and Reunions
If competitive chess (online and OTB) make up one pillar of what the Warwick Alumni does, the other pillar are the social reunions!
Apart from coming together at tournaments, at the minimum, quarterly reunions are always in the works (be they in London or around the University).
In 2022-23, this has included drinks, meals, and formal dinners: back at the University, in Coventry, in Leamington, and across London – Camden, Chinatown, Tufnell Park (Chessboxing), Trafalgar Square (Chess Fest).
Online Chess
Given many Alumni - after graduation - move to various locations across the UK and the rest of the world, we are quite focussed on ensuring the online offering is substantial.
There are three elements to this.
The first, has been covered already, in the form of our three teams in the World Chess League.
The second, includes friendly matches with fellow university alumni groups, most recently Durham, but we have plans to play Bristol Alumni, in the near future.
The third, are our online Twitch streams, which are generally organised by IA Tom Thorpe, a much-loved Warwick Alumni. He is quite the seasoned commentator for the Devonshire County Chess Association, as well!
Due to the difficulty of the University schedule versus working Alumni, the upcoming stream for a
“Nutcracker” style Alumni 2200+ Team vs Society 2200+ Club Match, is still in the planning phase!
Social Media
As social media use and digital footprint varies for the ten+ generations of Alumni who have attended our events, we are on all the main platforms. Warwick Chess Alumni can be found on Twitch, Twitter, IG, and Facebook.
We have a website (here), and a quarterly Newsletter (issue link; signup link).
NEWSLETTER
TWITTER INSTAGRAM FACEBOOK
WEBSITE
Sports and Activities
Once a year, the Alumni Football Team, come down to play the University Society.
For the 2022 match, Ben organised the team; he was in Nepal at the time! ViceCaptain, Venga did a sterling job of leading the team on the day.
We lost laudably 7-2!
The Alumni Christmas Dinner followed by watching chess-boxing at Tufnell Park is now quite the tradition. This year, half the group choose to watch England at the World Cup, next door!
Committee
Our first permanent Committee was elected at our 2022 AGM:
President: FM Peter Batchelor
Chair: Taran Jina
Vice-Chair: WFM Louise Head
Hon. Treasurer: James Munns
Gen. Secretary: FA Hok Yin Stephen Chiu
Competitive Chess Sec.: Jack Huffer
Trips, Tours & Logistics Sec.: Tom Richardson
Events Sec.: Elliot Long & James March
OG Team Captain: Jack Huffer
2200+ (A) Team Captain: Holden Davis
Young Oldies Team Captain: Vincenz Bill
Football Team Captain: Ben Lee
Football Team Vice Captain: Ravi Venga
International Chess Sec.: Siti Anwar
Online Chess Sec.: IA Tom Thorpe
Hon. Chief Arbiter: FA Jorel Ali
Big thanks to the Committee for a successful season of events, 2022-23!
Thank you for reading.
Looking forward to an even more successful season, 2023-24.
